Mail-box and other device



D. A. DURAN.

MAIL BOX AND OTHER DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1919.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

gvwe n -toz Dame! /l. Damn 51 7155 flbtozmgf UNITED STATES PATENT orrics. Y if DANIEL DURAN, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIG-NOR T0 MARY I. DURAN, OF YONKEItf-i NEW YORK.

MAIL-BOX AND OTHER DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Au 10, 1920.

Application filed September 29, 1919. Serial No. 327,169.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL A. DORAN, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Yonkers, in the county of V'Vestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lViaiLBoXes and other Devices, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mail boxes and particularly to devices of this class used in apartment houses, and the object of the invention is to provide a mail bog; which is adapted to be automatically raised and lowered in a suitable shaft whereby a party or tenant may receive mail from the ground floor of the building and automatically raise such mail to a predetermined point on the floor of the building in which the apartment of such tenant is located; a further object being to provide means automatically actuated by the opening of a door to the shaft in which the mail-box operates for raising the mail-box into juxtaposition with the door opening of said door and also to provide means whereby the closing of said door will automatically lower the mail-box in said shaft; a still further object being to provide a structure of the class specified which may also be used as,.or in dumbwaiter apparatus and other, or similar carriers; and with these and other objects in view the invention consists in a device of the class and for the purpose specified, constructed and operating as hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views. and in which Figure l is a longitudinal sectional View through a mail-box shaft in the wall of a building showing my improvement therein and indicating the method of its use, part of the construction being broken away and omitted;

Fig. 2 a partial section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

3 a partial section on the Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4 a partial section on the line et4. of Fig. 2.

line 3-3 of in Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive, I have indicated at 5 part of a Wall of a building in which 1S formed a vertical mail-box shaft 6, the top of which communicates with an enlarged compartment 7. 'Mounted on the opposite side walls of the shaft 6 are tracks 8 which serve to guide a mail-box 9 in its vertical movement in said shaft. T he opposite sides of said mail-box are provided with channels 1U which operate in connection with the tracks 8, as clearly shown.

'lhe mail-box 9 is approximately rectangular in form and open at the top and provided with a bail or handle portion 11. An electric motor 12 is mounted within the compartment at the top. of the shaft 6 and provided with a protruding shaft 13 on the outer end por tion of which is mounted a spool 14; and a rope or cable 15 is wound on said spool and the free end of which is connected with the bail 11 as shown at 16. Mounted on said shaft inwardly of the spool 14% is a ratchet wheel 17 in connection with which a pawl 18 pivoted to a suitable bracket 19 is adapted to operate. The pawl 18 is normally held in engagement with the ratchet 17 by a spring 20 and. the free end of the pawl 18 is l.- shaped in form and provided with an arm 21, the free end portion of which is beveled as shown at 22 in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

A circuit make and break arm 23 is pivotally mounted within the shaft 6, or on one wall thereof as shown at 242 and is adapted to make and break the circuit through wires 25 and 26 of the motor 12, the wire 25 being connected with the pivoted end of the arm 23, while the wire 26 connects with a contact device 27 supported on an arm 28 secured to a wall of the shaft 6.

At the top of the shaft (3 and in one wall thereof is a door openingpreferably located slightly below the compartment 7, and a hinged door 30 is adapted to close said door opening. The hinged side of the door 3( is provided-on its inner face with an in wardly directed cam arm 2-51, the free end portion of which is beveled as shown at 32. The beveled portion 32 of the arm 31 is adapted to operate in connection. with the make and break arm 23 to raise said arm and break the circuit through the wires 25 and 26 in the operation of closing the door and the cam arm 31 is also adapted to operate in connection with the arm 21 of the pawl 18 to shaft, and means for automatically stopping the upward movement of the mail-box in said shaft.

3. In a device of the class described, a shaft at the top portion of which is a door opening and at the bottom portion of which ,is an elongated aperture, a door adapted;

to close said door opening, a mail-box movable vertically in said shaft, said mail-box being normally'in its lowest position, means whereby the opening of said door will auto matically cause said mail-box to be raised in said shaft, means for automatically stopping the upward movement of the mail-box in said shaft, and means for holding the mail-box in its raised position.

i. In a device of the class described, a shaft at the top portion of which is a door opening and at the bottom portion of which is an elongated aperture, a door adapted to close said door opening, a mail-box movable vertically in said shaft, said mail-box being normally in its lowest position, means whereby the opening of said door will automatically cause said mail-box to be raised in said shaft, means for automatically stopping the upward movement of the mail-box in said shaft, means for holding the mailbox in its raised position, and said first named means operating to automatically release said last named means to permit of the downward movement of said mail-box in said shaft in the operation of closing the door.

In a device of the class described, a shaft at the top portion of which is a door opening and at the bottom portion of which is an elongated aperture, a door adapted to close said door opening, a mail-box movable vertically in said shaft, said mailbox being normally in its lowest position,means whereby the opening of said door will antomatically cause said mail-box to be raised in said shaft, means for automatically stopping the upward movement of the mail-box in said shaft, means for holding the mailbox in its raised position, said first named means operating to automatically release said. last named means to permit of the downward movement of said mail-box in said shaft in the operation of closing the door, and a spring actuated shutter device in the bottom portion of said shaft and adapted to automatically close said elongated aperturewhen the mailbox is in its raised position.

6. In a device of the class described, a shaft at the top portion of which is a door opening and at the bottom portion of which is an elongated aperture, a door adapted to close said door opening, a mail-box movable vertically in said shaft, said mail-box being normally in its lowest position, means involving an electric motor for raising said mail box in said shaft, and means on said door and in the top portion of said shaft for automatically putting said motor in operation to raise said mail-box in the operation of opening said door.

7. In a device of the class described, a shaft at the top portion of which is a door opening and at the bottom portion of which is an elongated aperture, a door adapted to close said door opening, a mail-box movable vertically in said shaft, said mail-box being normally in its lowest position, means involving an electric motor for raising said mail box in saidshaft, means 011 said door and in the top portion of said shaft for automatically putting said motor in operation to raise said mailbox in the operation of opening said door, means for automatically breaking the circuit to said motor for stopping the upward movement of said mail-box in said shaft, and means for holding said mail-box in its raised position.

8. In a device of tie class described, a shaft at the top portion of which is a door opening and at the bottom of which is an elongated aperture, a door adapted to close said door opening, a mail-box movable vertically in said shaft, said mail-box being normally in its lowest position, means in Volving an electric motor for raising said mailbox in said shaft, a make and break arm mounted in the top portion of said shaft and adapted to open and close the circuit to said motor, and means on said door adapted to operate in connection with said make and break arm to normally hold said arm in its inoperative position when the door is closed whereby the opening of said door will automatically close the circuit to said motor and raise the mail-box in said shaft.

9. A device of the class described comprising a suitable shaft having a door opening, a door adapted to close said opening, a mail box movable in said shaft, said mail box being normally in its lowered position, and means actuated by the opening of said door for automatically moving said mail box into a raised position.

10. A device of the class described comprising a suitable shaft having a door open ing, a door adapted to close said opening, a mail box movable vertically in said shaft, said mail box being normally in its lowered position, means actuated by the opening of said door for automatically moving said mail box into a raised position, and means for automatically stopping the upward movement of said mail box and for holding it in a raised position.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myjname 

